When Ridley College announced it was making its certificate courses free from May 1 – it was sent out on April 1. But it was no April Fools joke.
The Ridley Certificate is an online video course in Bible, theology and ministry for individuals and groups designed to help people deepen their faith and expand their Bible knowledge.
There are six video lessons per subject. Each lesson has up to 40 minutes of video content, plus questions for further discussion or reflection, multiple-choice questions, handouts and bonus resources to explore.
If you complete four core subjects and your choice of six electives you earn the Ridley Certificate of Bible and Ministry. The Ridley Certificate is not an AQF award and is not affiliated with the Australian College of Theology.“Ridley College is committed to equipping churches and individual Christians with training in Bible, theology, and practical ministry,” said Acting Principal, Andy Judd. “Since the launch of the Ridley Certificate in 2013, we have seen more than 15,000 enrolments from all over the world. In addition, over 150 churches have subscribed to the Ridley Certificate and used its resources to train their members. Our vision is to take this to the next level, and to see God’s word impact even more people across the world.“Thanks to the generous support of many donors, we are now able to do this – making all current and future Ridley Certificate subjects available for free for the next five years.”
A new suite of subjects is in production, including Genesis, Safe Ministry and the gospels. Ridley have begun to translate their most popular subjects into Mandarin, with other languages to come.
From Queensland, Adam Lowe of St Bart’s Toowoomba gives a user endorsement of the courses: “Our mission as a church is to make mature disciples of Jesus Christ for God’s glory. We have been running Ridley Certificate almost continuously since 2016. We have recently celebrated 1000 subjects completed, and it has been an enormous blessing for us as a whole church.”
Subjects for study through the Ridley Certificate are available free of charge from 1 May for the next five years. Access to these subjects can be found here: